R.I.L.Y Forever (21 page)
Authors: Norah Bennett
Julia scooted away from Ethan’s warm body and was just about off the bed when two big arms wrapped around her waist and hauled her back so she was sitting once more between his legs with her back resting against his chest. Ethan dropped his head into her hair and inhaled deeply. He kissed the side of her neck as his arms tightened around her.
“Beautiful, I want you to listen to me. I get it now. It all makes sense. I wish I could go back and change the past in so many ways, but I can’t. If I could,
I
would have protected you.
I
would have spared you all that pain because I love you and have loved you for as long as I can remember. It’s going to take me a while to digest and deal with my father’s actions. I want to know what part my mother played in all of this and figure out what to do. I’ll work on it and I’ll deal with it. Once that’s done, I’ll put it away for good because we have a lifetime ahead of us and we’re not going to spend it reliving the past or giving the past power over us. Okay?”
“Yeah, Eth.” Julia turned her head, tipped it up and caught his lips in a deep kiss filled with love and promise of the future. She straightened and straddled him once again and he gathered her close, hugging her to him.
“There’s just one more thing, beautiful,” he said into her hair. “I want you to promise me something and then I’ll promise you something in return.”
“Anything, sweetheart.”
“Promise me that from now on, you’ll never keep anything from me, not even to protect me. Let me share in your life, the bad with the good. I want to start a life with you and Lilly. You’re the family I’ve always dreamed of having. We can’t have secrets, though. Secrets are a destructive force in any relationship. We’ve had more than our share of drama and heartache all because of secrets.”
“Okay, I promise. No more secrets.”
“Good, baby.” He brushed her lips with his. “Here’s what I’m going to promise you, in return.” Looking down, he reached for the locket and opened the angel wings to reveal the inscription.
“I promise with all my heart that I will love you and Lilly, forever. I promise that in my hands, your hearts will be safe. You can wear this locket every day if you want, but I’m going to make it so you don’t need a reminder of my love. You’re going to know it as the absolute truth every day when you wake up until the second you close your eyes and beyond into your dreams.”
Ethan took her mouth in a deep kiss that left no doubt he meant every word. In his arms Julia found everything she ever wanted and everything she ever needed. Their love had survived twenty-two years of separation, and that was enough—enough loneliness and enough pain. They had their quota of misery and now it was time for happiness to come and stay a while, maybe even forever.
The End
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